Big, clever and should last a lifetime, but there’s no ignoring the fact that it lacks the outright polish of its European rivals
Dunkin’ Donuts, late-night chat shows, Twinkies, Sketchers, Seinfeld and the Toyota Camry – all concepts that, while proving widely popular in good ol’ US of A, haven’t transferred particularly well when they’ve been brought over to the UK. While American buyers have always loved the idea of large, comfortable, petrol-powered saloons (Toyota sells more than 400,000 Camrys a year in the US alone), British buyers have typically favoured smaller, more nimble diesel cars from ‘premium’ manufacturers. That’s why the Camry was canned back in 2004; while the European big saloon market went mad for diesel, Toyota didn’t offer one and sales predictably slumped.But now, in an ironic turn of events, the Camry name is about to make a return to British dealers, due to – yup, you guessed it – a downturn in diesel sales.Available exclusively with a hybrid powertrain consisting of a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine and an electric motor, the new Camry is bang on trend and is perfectly placed to compete with other ‘self-charging’ (cars that top up their batteries automatically when you decelerate) rivals such as the Ford Mondeo Hybrid, as well as plug-hybrids (hybrids that benefit from being charged up overnight), such as the Volkswagen Passat GTE.
Source: Autocar
